Door opening device



Aug. 11, 193 1. B. F. ZEHNER 1,813,333

DOOR OPENING DEVICE filed March 19, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I l 11/ III/ 1l 1 I 5 ATTORNEY Aug. 11,1931. B. F. ZEHNER. 1,818,833

DOOR OPENING DEVICE Filed March 19, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 III/I111,

1 IIIIIIIII, v I I I WI/A [bras ATTO R N EY Patented Aug. 11, 1931UNITED STATES PATENT oFF ce v BENJAMIN F. ZEHNER, F ASHL-AND, OHIO noonOPENING nEvrcE Application filed March 19, 1930. Serial No. 437,156.

bile upon a depressible platform when ap-- proaching the garage, andlikewise agaln swinging the doors to open position. when the vehiclewithin travels on the platform in leaving the garage.

To the attainment of the above broadly recited objects the inventionresides in the improvement hereinafter described and definitely claimed.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view through a garage equipped withthe improvement.

Figure 2 is a sectional view approximately on the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a detail face view looking toward the front of the gara e.

Figure 4 is a plan view 0 the operating mechanism with the platformremoved.

Figure 5 is a substantially central longitudinal sectional view throughthe construction illustrated by Figure 4, and showing the platformthereon.

Figure 6 is a detail sectional view approximately on the line 66 ofFigure 4.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the numeral 1 designates anordinary type of garage and 22 the outwardly swinging doors therefor.These doors are hinged in the usual manner to the garage, as indicatedby the numeral-3.

In carrying out my invention I arrange in a line longitudinal with theplane of the garage a depressible form is elongated an extends asuitable distance both within and without the garage.

The top board of the platform has its ends hinged to links 5, the saidlinks in turn having their lower or depending ends hing,- edlysupported, as at 6. The platform is 4 normally retained inhorizontalposition through the medium of spring means 7, and the platform if of awidth whereby one of the wheels of the vehicle can. freely travelthereover.

60 Beneath each door 2 at the hinged edge latform 4. The plat- I Will benoted that when a vehicle approaches thereof, I fix a suitable'box-likehousing 8- which is round in plan and which is comparatively small. Ineach of the housings there is an upstanding lug 9, the outer face ofeach of the lugs being formed with an annulardepression in which isjournaled a trunnion 10 on the lower face of a bevel gear 11. Each ofthe bevel gears on its outer face is formed with spaced upstandingplates 12 that receive the doors2 therebetween and which are bolted orotherwise secured to the doors by means 13. Obviously the lower edge ofthe, door 2, through which the depressible platform 4 passes ispreferably cut-away, but this cut-away space may be filled by a lateralextension on the second door, as disclosed by Figure 3 'of the drawings.l

There is journaled transversely through bearing openings in the innerfaces of the housings 8 and likewise through the lugs 9 a shaft 14. Thisshaft has a cranked portion 15 which freely; passes through a bearing 16on the under face of the platform 4i- Thespring-means"? normally holdthe crank 15 in an upright vertical position.

Freely mounted on'theshaft' 14 and 'engaging with the teeth of the gear11 there are similar gears 17 and 18,.respectively, the said gears, ofcourse, being arranged in 0 the housings 8.- Each. of these gears on itsouter or non-toothed face is formed with'a lug 19, and the shaft 14 haspassed' there throughpins 15 that are designed for con tact with theoppositely disposed active faces of the lugs 19 on the respective gears17and 18. 7 1

By .an arrangement as above described it the garage and one of thewheels thereof rides on and depressesmthe platform 4, the same will bemoved downwardly by the weight of the machine, causing the crank portion15 of the shaft 14 to turn the said shaft. This brings one of the pinson the shaft into engagement with-the lug on one of the gears, say thegears 17, and these turning gears revolve the gear 11 which will swingthe doors to open position. After the vehicle travels off the platforminto the garage the spring 7 will swing the platform to its normalposition, and the operator of the car will swing the doors to closedposition. This causes the gears 11 to return the gears 17 and 18 toinitial position, that is to bring the lugs thereof opposite and intocontact with the pins on the shaft. When the vehicle is to be driven outof the garage, one of the Wheels thereof will contact with the inner endof the platform and depress the same and turn the shaft 14 in anopposite direction to that previously described The gears 18 now becomethe active gears as the lugs thereon are contacted by the pins on theshaft, so that the said gears 18 will cause the turning of the gears 11and thus again swing the doors to outward open position. After thevehicle travels off the platform the doors are again closed by thedriver of the machine which returns the gears 17 and 1.8 to initialpositions.

The simplicity of my construction and the advantages thereof will, it isthought, he

perfectly apparent without further detailed "description.

Obviously I do not wish to be restricted to the precise details hereinset forth and, therefore, hold myselfentitled to make such changestherefrom as fairly fall within the scope of what I claim.

- I Having described the invention, I claim: The combination withoutwardly swinging hinged doors for a garage or the like, of

a platform arranged beneath one ofthe doors and extending in oppositedirections therefrom, pivoted depending links at the ends oftheplatform, elements to which the lower ends of the links are pivoted,

spring means influencing the platform to normally sustain the same inhorizontalposition', a shaft journaled transversely below theplatform'having a cranked portion, a

-- bearing on the under face of the platform for the cranked portion ofthe shaft, housingsb'eneath the hinged edges of the doors,

-an' upstanding lug in each" housing, said shafthaving its ends receivedin the housings and finding bearings throughthe lugs,

a pair of facing gears loose on the shaft in each of the housings, eachof said gears having lugs on the outer face thereof, pinson the shaftto'contact with the opposite faces of the lugs on the respective pairsof gears, .a' gear overlying each pair of gears, in mesh therewith andjournaled on the lugs, and

said gears having upstanding plates which pass through the top of thehousings, receive the doors therebetween and fixedly conneoted tosaid-doors at the hinged edges thereof.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

BENJAMIN F. ZEHNER.

